Gaza

[flexibeast]

i basically agree with Rabbi Michael Lerner's position on Israel and Gaza. Consequently, neither of the Gaza-related protests held in Melbourne today were protests i would want to be associated with:

• One involved not only the burning of the Israeli flag, but the destruction and burning of a Star of David. Failing to distinguish between Judaism and the Israeli government / military smacks of traditional anti-Jewish nonsense, and is just as ludicrous as holding all Palestinians responsible for the actions of Hamas. Not even all Zionists support the what the Israeli government is doing: see, for example, this entry on Richard Silverstein's blog.


• The other involved supporting the actions of the Israeli government, even though it is a completely disproportionate response to the actions of Hamas; even though it is a shameful continuation of the Israeli government's policy of punishing the entire Palestinian population for the actions of a minority, as per the long-running siege of Gaza. By such logic, every resident of Israel should be similarly punished for the actions of the rabid so-called 'settlers' in the West Bank.

No, thanks - i'm looking for perspectives which are more likely to bring an end to the conflict in Israel and Palestine, not prolong and exacerbate it.

eumelia has been writing about current events here and here.
 

Comments

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

Both protests made the news; it was in fact seeing a news report on both protests that provoked me to write this entry.

The Australian Jewish News (http://www.ajn.com.au/) has not (as far as i can see) covered the thousands-strong anti-invasion rally, instead only covering the hundreds-strong pro-invasion rally (http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=6854) and Senator Fifield's dubious comments:

"Hamas in Gaza cannot claim to have been resisting an occupier. Let us remember that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

"Despite this, Israel has come under attack on an almost daily basis from rockets fired by terrorists linked to Hamas. More than 3000 rockets in 2008 alone."

Yes, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005; but since that time, it has nevertheless kept Gaza under a siege which is widely recognised as creating and sustaining a massive humanitarian crisis. Not only that, but as Lerner points out, Israel itself has broken the terms of the cease-fire by engaging in cross-border actions against Hamas members prior to the current operation. And the number of Israelis killed - or at least injured - as a result of Hamas' rocket attacks is dwarfed by the number of Gazan civilians killed or injured as a result of current Israeli military operations. Finally, the impression i get is that Hamas regards itself as a military opposition to Israel's treatment of all Palestinians, not just those in Gaza - which, if accurate, is given credence by the Israeli government's half-hearted (at best!) restraining of 'settlers' who are gradually annexing the West Bank and pushing Palestians out.

Having said all that, it distresses me that pro-Palestian perspectives often seem to take a view of the conflict which basically ignores what i consider to be the critical role played by Europeans, European states - Britain and France in particular - and certain Jewish and Arab 'leaders' in creating the current situation: see not only this LJ entry of mine (http://flexibeast.livejournal.com/51645.html), but the Wikipedia entries for the Sykes-Picot Agreement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes-Picot) and Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal-Weizmann_Agreement).